It's Not Sane
by marie-bernard
Summary: Who or what is dividing up the Glee Club?
1. Chapter 1

"It's not normal."

"It's creepy, is what it is."

"Why is she there?"

"Are they dating?"

"What do you know about this, Finn?"

Finn wasn't even sure who'd asked the question, but when he looked up the rest of the club was looking back at him expectantly.

"I don't know any more than you guys; she just told me in the lunch line that she was eating with him."

"Aren't you going to do something?"

"You need to talk to her."

"Something's going on."

Finn couldn't take it anymore; he grabbed his unfinished lunch and left the table. He stopped at the jock's table on his way to dump his lunch tray, but before he could say a word Azimio started slowly pelting him with tater tots. He took one to the chest and another one on the cheek. When the last one hit him right between the eyes and Azimio cried out, 'Score!' while the other jocks laughed like hyenas he finally turned and fled. Rachel and Karofsky hadn't said a word; they didn't even laugh with the rest of them, they'd just sat there and stared at him coldly the entire time. Finn wanted to cry at the unfairness of it. What was he supposed to do? He wasn't Rachel's boyfriend anymore, he was with Quinn now.

OoOoO

They sat with the jocks for another two weeks until she, Karofsky and Azimio started taking a table by themselves. No one could talk to her in the hallway, at least one of her new friends was hovering continuously. The first week she'd only say, 'It's none of your business,' when asked about it in Glee Club, and then only if asked directly, she ignored the speculation even when they talked right in front of her. The second week she refused to say a word about it at all. Then, on the same day the threesome moved to their own lunch table, Karofsky joined Glee. Now Rachel sat next to him and no one said a word about it.

Kurt was beside himself with anger. He felt like Karofsky and Rachel had connived to exploit the Glee Club's open door policy. Of course, anyone could join, but everyone knew that Glee was a refuge of sorts for freaks and losers. Now he was here. A bully who had made them all feel like losers at one point or another.

No one ever heard him make a sound until it was time for him to sing. And, damn him, he had a good voice, too! No, Karofsky just sat there, hulking over Rachel, glaring at the rest of them while she whispered in his ear. Until one day, out of the blue, the whispering stopped and he looked up at Santana.

"Hey, Barbie-tits, you wanna come have dinner with us tonight? I'm cooking."

Santana's death glare would have turned a lesser mortal to stone, but Karofsky just looked at her, calm and placid. Kurt thought he looked like a ruminating bull.

"Not on your life you fat freak!"

He just shrugged and leaned down so Rachel could start whispering to him again. When Brittany went forward to sing with Quinn and Tina, Kurt grabbed his phone and sent The Evil One a text.

**Go! We need to know what's going on.**

She sent back a one word reply.

**No**

But so did he.

**Gossip.**

"Hey, Karofsky, I changed my mind, I will take you up on dinner. None of the veggie shit your girlfriend likes, though - I'm a meat eater."

She smirked at them in a way that could only be described as lascivious, but Rachel just smiled in return and Karofsky shrugged again.

"No problem, I'll make you some puerco chops, chiquita."

Kurt's heart fell at the look on Finn's face. It was the first time any of them had referred to Rachel as Karofsky's girlfriend.

OoOoO

Puck had first period with Santana. He knew if Kurt hadn't gotten to her over the weekend (and he doubted it, that girl held on to info like a squirrel held on to nuts) he'd be the first one to get the low down. She might not be willing to dish for Kurtie-poo, but she'd give it up for the Puckster.

Santana only stared at him and pointedly turned her phone off when he tried to text her. For the third time. Fine, she wanted to play? He could go elementary on her ass. He tore a sheet from his notebook and wrote, 'What happened!' on it, then folded it into a hard, compact triangle and flicked it at her. And damn that girl was good! Santana had actually caught it in mid-air before opening it up and writing back.

Puck guessed she lacked his paper-folding skills because she just crumpled the note into a ball and threw it at his head. That was alright; he was satisfied as long as he got some answers.

'We ate dinner. We danced. Leave me alone.'

He wasn't satisfied. He'd get to the bottom of this eventually.

On their way to lunch he'd prepped Brittany on what to say to her best girlfriend so they could ferret out some information. They fell into step beside Santana at the cafeteria door where she hooked Britt's pinky with her own and the two queued up to the salad bar. Puck followed behind with his own tray, ready to do a hard interrogation if the soft questioning (Brittany and some kissing) didn't work.

But when they got to the Glee table Santana dropped Britt's finger and continued right by, taking a seat with Rachel, Azimio and Dave. None of them even looked in their direction for the rest of lunch.

Puck spent the lunch hour trying to cheer Brittany up along with Kurt and Mercedes, but comfort was not his forte. She'd looked crestfallen when Santana had glided past her and then she spent the rest of the week moping. Puck kept trying to get answers from Santana, but she told the teachers in all the classes they shared that he was harassing her and now he couldn't even breathe in her direction without getting the stank-eye.

The worst day for him was Wednesday when he offered Britt a ride on the Puckasauras to cheer her up. She told him it wasn't the same without Santana and then cried like a baby. Puck had to stand there feeling like an ass while he awkwardly patted her shoulder.

She stayed noticeably depressed until Friday when they all gathered in the choir room for Glee practice. From his spot between Rachel and Santana, Dave spoke aloud, seemingly to the air.

"It's supposed to rain tonight," then he turned to look at Brittany, "you wanna come over and dance with us later?"

Puck thought her reaction was pathetic. She bounced up and down in her seat with tears of relief in her eyes.

"Thank you! I'd love to!"

At lunch time on Monday the Glee Club could only stare in horror. Brittany had cheerfully followed Santana past their table and gone straight across the cafeteria to sit at the table with them.

OoOoO

By Wednesday Artie had called an emergency lunch meeting of Glee Club in the choir room. 'Without the traitors', the text they'd all received had read.

"Don't you see what's happening here? They're stealing our women!"

Puck thought he'd gone nuts, "Man, if Santana Lopez didn't want to be sitting at that table she wouldn't be."

Finn had agreed with Artie but a glare from Quinn had silenced him. Artie wasn't ready to let it drop that easily, though.

"I'm telling you guys, if one more of our girls turns up over there, heads are going to roll."

Mercedes was livid, "Look, bubba, I'm not anybody's girl but my own and I'll have lunch wherever I want!"

"You'll be next!" he cried, but she was already heading out the door.

The emergency meeting broke up then and they all headed to the cafeteria. They still sat together but it was tense. Artie couldn't care less if the rest of them glared at him. Let them deny what was right in front of their faces, he didn't have any blinders on about this situation. He looked around at the remaining Glee women and tried to decide who they'd target next.

By football practice he'd decided to take a direct approach. He got there early intending to confront whichever of the harem-builders showed up first. He wheeled in the door to take in Karofsky looming over Sam, one arm over Sam's shoulder, his hand pressed against the locker Sam was leaning back against. Sam looked flustered and was nodding his head while Karofsky whispered to him, too low for Artie to hear.

"What's going on here? Leave him alone!"

The larger boy ignored him and turned to his own locker, while Sam shot him a guilty look.

"We were just talking man, don't get so upset."

"Was he threatening you?"

Karofsky started to laugh and Sam looked taken aback.

"No, dude, nothing like that, just chill okay?"

After practice the other Gleeks watched with surprise as Sam climbed into Karofsky's truck along with Azimio; he usually rode home with Finn or Puck. Artie just looked on sadly.

"You know he'll be sitting with them tomorrow, right?"

OoOoO

After Sam's defection from the Glee table things moved into a stasis of sorts for almost a month. The Glee kids picked songs and duets to sing together and so did the others. They addressed one another when they had to, but for the most part kept to their own. The Gleeks spoke to each other audibly; the others mostly spoke in whispers or at least kept their voices low.

Then one rainy day things almost blew up in the choir room. Brittany approached Tina and said in a quite normal tone of voice, "You should come over to Dave's and dance with us tonight."

Before she could reply Mike was out of his seat and yelling at Britt, "Get away from her! She's not going anywhere with you people!"

Santana and Sam had snickered at that while Rachel rolled her eyes, but Karofsky didn't change expression, just watched what was happening with interest.

"Mike you don't have to answer for me."

Tina was clearly annoyed but she spoke regretfully to Brittany, "I'm sorry Britt, I really can't."

The blonde gave her a huge, obviously genuine smile, patted her hand, then walked back to her own group. She stopped to whisper in Karofsky's ear before sitting beside Santana. Mike sat back down but continued glaring; they completely ignored him, none of them so much as glanced at him again.

Rachel leaned toward Dave and murmured, "Curiosity killed the cat."

Dave smiled at her and stroked the back of her hair, "But satisfaction brought it back."

They hadn't been whispering, but they spoke in such low tones that Kurt thought he was probably the only one who'd over heard them. The next day he was the only member of Glee Club who wasn't surprised when lunch time rolled around and Tina took a seat by Azimio at that table.


	2. Chapter 2

"Half of this is in twenties, I said four hundreds."

He shrugged, "You can give it back."

"I'll deal. When do you want me to tell him?"

He cocked his head to the side and thought about it for a moment, "Right before, let's make it a surprise."

She laughed at that, "Cool."

Azimio watched the large girl strut away, a little disgusted by her. Some people had no fucking loyalty at all. Oh well, the ones who could be bought were still dead useful sometimes. On his way to class he sent a text out to let them know he was going to miss lunch today.

OoOoO

Mercedes sighed as she walked to their table; Mike was staring at Tina again. She took the seat next to him so she could elbow him a little too hard.

"Stop it. She doesn't even notice you and you're depressing everyone else."

The other Gleeks nodded at him but Mike wasn't paying attention, he hadn't even turned in their direction.

"Azimio's not sitting with them today," he observed.

Mercedes wondered if that was supposed to have some significance; it certainly wasn't making Tina look back at their table.

"So? He was here earlier, maybe he had something else to do."

"I just thought… maybe he was the one. I mean, she always sits by him, maybe they had a fight or something."

Mercedes shared a look with Kurt who held his hands up to his shoulders, his gesture and expression clearly saying 'I don't know what to do.'

"Boo, I don't think it matters if they did. She's still over there."

"Maybe I should go talk to her."

"Dude, that's a bad idea," Finn advised, "they'll just embarrass you. Face it, she doesn't care about you anymore."

Kurt smacked him on the back of the head; Quinn waited her turn then added a smack of her own.

"Could you be more insensitive?" She turned to address the others at the table, "Can we all just stop looking in that direction for one day at least?"

Mercedes forcibly turned Mike's face toward her own, "Look, we'll sing it out at Glee practice today, okay? We'll all help you, right guys?"

They chorused their agreement and then started discussing song choices, glad to have something else to focus on. Mike joined in but he still sounded so forlorn that it broke her heart to listen to him. Mercedes just hoped this could help him get it out of his system.

But it didn't happen that way.

OoOoO

Mercedes walked in the choir room right behind Kurt, and then she walked right into Kurt.

"Ow! Why'd you…"

She trailed off as she followed his gaze across the room. Azimio Adams was sitting with them. They stopped staring and made their way to their seats where the rest of the Gleeks were murmuring to each other.

"What is he doing here?"

Isn't it obvious? He's trying out."

"Now we know where he was at lunch."

Mercedes thought it would have been hilarious if it wasn't such a strange reversal; today they were the ones whispering while the others were actually talking out loud. They had their chairs scooted close to Azimio encouraging him with gentle pats from the girls and shoulder slugs and fist bumps from Sam and Karofsky. She leaned toward Kurt and added to the whispering on their side of the room.

"Well, at least there are still more of us than there are of them."

He jerked his head in Mike's direction, "For now."

Mercedes watched him stare at Tina for a moment before she turned back to Kurt.

"You don't think…?"

"You remember how Britt was the week before she went over."

She raised a skeptical eyebrow to her best friend, "Went over?"

"You know what I mean 'Cedes."

Mr. Schue walked in and the Gleeks turned to him eagerly, hoping against hope that what seemed inevitable wasn't about to happen.

"Guys I'm going to start off by giving you the bad news first."

Mercedes thought Azimio being here was bad news but it seemed so out of character for Mr. Schue to say, then she caught the rest of what he was telling them.

"We have a member leaving the Glee Club. I know you said you can't stay, but did you want to sing one last time before you leave us, Lauren?"

"No," she said with finality.

Puck had already shot up from his seat, "What the hell? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why bother? You know now."

"I'm pissed off that I have to find out with everyone else!"

Lauren rolled her eyes at him, "Are you still coming over tonight?"

Puck looked down at the ground as though he was ashamed of the answer, "Yeah."

"Then I don't care if you're pissed off," she looked over his shoulder at the rest of them, "See you later losers."

As soon as she was gone Mr. Schuester announced the 'good' news; Azimio Adams was trying out for Glee. He was in, of course he was in, his voice wasn't as good as Finn's, but he could definitely carry a tune. When he returned to his seat amidst cheers from them Mercedes saw everyone on her side of the room do the math, now they were even. She felt like they'd all been tricked somehow and by the looks on the other's faces she wasn't the only one. Mr. Schue was, as usual, oblivious.

"Now let's discuss songs for this week…"

Karofsky interrupted him, "Mr. Schuester I was wondering if we could pick songs by Azimio's favorite artist this week, he was really nervous about joining and I know it'd make him feel more welcome, you know, more like a real part of the group."

"That sounds great Dave!"

Azimio had an enormous grin on his face. Mercedes was instantly suspicious; she didn't trust that smile, not one little bit.

"Wow Mr. Schue, thank you so much! It really means a lot to me 'cause I absolutely love Willie Nelson."

She thought Kurt was going to pass out. Even Mr. Schue looked a little pale; she could almost read their sponsor's mind, how could he refuse without going back on what he'd just said?

"Let's take a vote shall we? All in favor of…ahem…Willie Nelson songs raise your hand."

Mercedes watched as six hands instantly shot into the air. Then she noticed Tina; for the first time in over a week she was smiling at Mike. Mercedes turned to look at him and even though she'd been expecting it she felt her stomach drop as she watched him tentatively raise his hand.

Kurt hissed in her ear, "What is he doing? They're making a mockery of us!"

She just shrugged, she could see that but what did Kurt expect her to do about it?

Mr. Schuester looked pained as he sighed in resignation, "Okay then, let's brainstorm."

OoOoO

What went down the next day was so predictable it was sad. Mike passed them by and made a bee-line for Tina. He sat down beside her at their table but to their collective shock he stood up again after a few seconds and came back to sit with the rest of the Glee Club. They were so excited to see someone actually return that they bombarded him with questions.

"What happened?"

"Why'd you come back?"

"Did she say anything?"

"What's going on over there?"

Mike had tears in his eyes when he answered, "Karofsky told me to leave, to go back where I belong. Brittany was the only one who'd look at me, she said, 'No one wants you here Mike.' She sounded cheerful."

Finn opened his mouth but Kurt dug an elbow into his side before he could say anything. Finn looked mad but at least he kept his mouth shut. Of course the others knew he'd been going to say 'I told you so.' They were kind of upset too, but Mike looked so heart-broken they couldn't bring themselves to be angry with him so no one said a word about it. They finished the rest of their lunch period in an uncomfortable silence. No one felt like bringing up Willie Nelson songs.


	3. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything I mention in this story.**

After 'The Willie Nelson Incident' which for Quinn had begun when Azimio Adams joined the Glee Club and finally culminated with the nightmarish spectacle of Finn and Kurt sharing a duet of 'Seven Spanish Angels' there were no more shenanigans in the choir room. Shenanigans had been the word Kurt used but Quinn Fabray knew a power play when she saw one. That had been the others putting them on notice that they were in charge now, if the rest of the Glee Club got something their way it was only because they allowed it. Well she, for one, had just been through way too much to take this lying down. If they thought they were going to get over on her they had another think coming. Now she just needed a partner in crime; no, not crime, justice. Partner in justice sounded much more… righteous.

Quinn mentally assessed the Glee Clubbers who were still on her side. Mike? He was a non-entity since his humiliation during the week of T.W.N.I. Finn? As much as she loved him in this situation she had to be honest about his capabilities, or rather, his lack of capabilities. Puck and Artie were loose cannons, too unstable for the delicacy and finesse she was going to need and God love Mercedes but the girl was almost as volatile as Puck and Artie and she had way too big a mouth to keep this under wraps. She'd go running straight to Kurt… hmm, Kurt. Delicate? Check. Finesse? Check. And just shifty enough to get things done when he needed to. Quinn pulled out her phone; she might as well put the plan into action right away.

OoOoO

"You want to spy on them? I don't even want to be near them. I'll be the next one crossing the room!"

"Look Kurt, you know as well as I do that there's something weird going on with them. We need to find out what before you are the next one."

"I don't like it, you don't think they'll notice if we start following them around?"

"We're not going to follow them; just pay attention, observe them, look for odd behavior, slow down when you walk near them to see if they say anything suspicious."

"Quinn I completely agree with you that something abnormal is going on but…"

"It could be Mercedes next instead of you; do you want that on your conscience?"

Kurt sighed into the phone. Quinn didn't need a verbal response; she knew a sigh of defeat when she heard it.

"Meet me in the janitor's closet near the science lab after school on Monday, we'll exchange information and then fine tune the plan for the rest of the week."

She hung up without saying goodbye. Quinn was pleased, she'd feared her power over males of the species might not extend to the gay ones but she should have known better. Lucy Quinn Fabray always got her man.

OoOoO

Quinn waited in the girl's restroom after the last bell so no one would see her lingering outside the science lab. On her way to meet Kurt in the janitor's closet she realized that while she had a couple of arguably strange things to report about the others there wasn't anything that she could make sense of, she'd have to hope Kurt had been more successful than she was. She slipped inside to find Kurt already there sitting on an upturned mop bucket.

"Where were you?"

"I waited until everyone left to come here, what's wrong with you?"

"I was smart enough to leave class early so I've been sitting here for twenty minutes smelling sour mops."

"Sorry," she really wasn't but that's what he wanted to hear, "did you get anything?"

Kurt started with the obvious, "I guess you noticed they switched lockers?"

"Yeah, they're all together at the end of the hall. Have you seen the touching?"

"Yes and normally I wouldn't think it unusual in teenagers but did you notice how it's mostly non-sexual? I mean, it's not like they make out everywhere, it's like… reassurance."

Quinn snorted, "Or maybe you wouldn't know sexual if it was staring you in the face."

"Look, this was your idea, if you don't want to hear what I have to say then I'll just go home."

"Wait, I'm sorry. I want your help Kurt, I really do."

"Okay. Well, the biggie is definitely the lockers."

"Exactly, they got four tops and three bottoms which makes no sense because who would take a bottom locker if they didn't have to?"

They both pondered this astounding rejection of high school social hierarchy for a bit then an idea occurred to Kurt.

"They're clustered together; if they all got tops then other students would be moving in and out amongst them."

Quinn was suddenly glad she'd picked Kurt to help with the plan; she also decided to take another look at the touching tomorrow. She didn't tell Kurt, though; there was no use in making him feel more important.

"Okay, let's go over it; they like each other a lot, they want to be close together," Quinn got a sinking feeling, "and we don't know anything more than we did yesterday, do we?"

"Not at all."

"Let's keep it up and see where we are tomorrow afternoon, okay?"

"I'll give it another day Quinn but I'm telling you, I don't like this at all."

OoOoO

The next morning Quinn tried to casually meander down the hallway where their lockers were now to see if anything noteworthy was happening. Unfortunately this meant walking out the glass doors that were just past the locker bank and also in the opposite direction of her first class. In retrospect she probably hadn't been as casual as she'd thought.

Karofsky and Santana had been turned toward their lockers as she approached, Quinn was thinking about walking out the doors and around the building to get back to her classroom, otherwise she was going to have to walk out then walk right back in which was way too obvious. Just as she'd drawn even with them Karofsky had taken a step backward then turned suddenly and grabbed her wrist.

"Hey Nancy Drew."

Santana kept her back turned and continued digging through her locker while she spoke to them.

"I hated Nancy Drew when I was a kid. Book after book of helpless little Lucy…"

Karofsky smirked at Quinn, "Nancy."

"Nancy," Santana corrected, "getting rescued by her father. Every time I read one of those books I hoped this would be the one where Nancy finally fucking died."

Santana turned and stepped closer to them, "How about you Quinn? Didn't you want to just kill the stupid bitch yourself?"

Quinn felt her tears beginning, "I have to go to class."

"Well you're headed the wrong way, Nancy," Karofsky said as he dropped her wrist.

Quinn turned and forced herself not to start running away. When she took out her phone her hands were shaking so badly she had trouble sending a text message to Kurt but on her fourth try she managed to get all the letters right.

**Abort mission they know**

OoOoO

At lunch Quinn and Kurt confessed what they'd been doing to their half of the Glee Club. Finn was angry at Karofsky, but not angry enough to go confront him, Quinn noticed. She, Puck, Artie and Kurt wanted to make a new plan of action, Mike was apathetic and Mercedes and Finn argued that they'd be stirring up trouble again and they should just leave well enough alone. The discussion grew intense and none of them noticed Sam walking toward them until he was sitting down by Puck. He drew away from Sam and looked at him suspiciously.

"What are you doing over here, bro?"

"Dave wants to know if you want to come over tonight."

Instantly the others were crying out warnings to him.

"Don't do it man!"

"You'll be next."

"No Puck, we'll never get you back."

Sam rolled his eyes at their commotion, "He'll be right back where he belongs tomorrow. None of us want him."

Mike jumped a little when he heard that and Sam gave him a knowing smile before he returned his attention to Puck and continued.

"Dave said it was alright for you to come and watch, you can tell everyone here what's going on, get your curiosity over with and then leave us alone."

Now Sam looked at Quinn, "He says it'll be better for everyone that way."

Puck looked around the table at his friends, all of their eyes seemed to be pleading with him but he couldn't tell if the expressions meant 'please go' or 'please don't.' He looked down at his lunch tray, wondering what to do.

When he hesitated Sam leaned down to whisper in his ear, "He says if you don't want to I can ask Mike, 'cause for sure he'll want to come over and see what Tina's been up to."

When Puck looked up he didn't face Sam, instead he looked directly into Quinn's eyes.

"I'll go."


	4. Chapter 4

**I own nothing, nothing at all.**

**A/N:** Big thank you to **nluvwithemmettcullen **for help bouncing ideas around. Stick with me bb, it'll get creepier in the next chapter.

* * *

><p>When he woke up for the second time on Wednesday morning Puck groaned aloud and then instantly resolved not to do <span>that<span> again for the next few hours, it just made his head hurt that much worse. He could hear Azimio on the phone; the sound of his voice was like a sledgehammer pounding his brain. He managed to sit up in bed and reach for the glass of orange juice the larger boy had considerately sat on his nightstand when he'd brought him home earlier. Puck looked speculatively at the joint sitting next to it but he didn't think he was ready for that yet; he might cough. His aching head told him that coughing would be a very bad idea right now.

He looked up when Azimio walked back in the bedroom, he wished he'd also been considerate enough to close the blinds when he'd put him in the bed. The bright sunlight was not helping his headache at all.

"Quinn and Kurt are gonna be here in a few."

Puck tried to respond but his throat felt like he'd swallowed cotton balls. Azimio made a gesture toward the juice Puck was still holding and then waited for him to speak.

"I'm surprised they're not all coming."

"They wanted to, idiots. How fucking obvious would that be?"

His brain slowly processed the statement. Oh… obvious they were skipping class. Azimio grinned at him in amusement.

"You're gonna have to learn to hold your liquor, man. I'm outta here, see you at practice."

Puck broke his earlier resolve and groaned again. He could hear Azimio's laughter all the way down the hall.

OoOoO

He was just finishing off the joint and the last of the orange juice when Quinn and Kurt pulled up outside. He could hear them pounding at the door and yelling his name as he made his way to the living room. Puck pulled the door open and glared at them.

"Stupid fuckers, why didn't you just come in? It wasn't even locked," he hissed at them.

"Oh god, they got to you!"

"Shit, keep your voice down Kurt. Smirnoff blue got to me; I'm hung over."

They followed him to the kitchen and eyed him warily as he grabbed more juice from the fridge. Damn, he'd left his glass in the bedroom. Puck shrugged to himself and drank out of the carton then carried it with him to the table. He almost laughed out loud when he saw his friends carefully take the seats closest to the door.

"So…," Kurt began, "tell us what happened."

"They drank a lot. They smoked a ton of weed. Then they all had sex together."

Quinn mentally put the couples together; Brittany and Santana, that was obvious, Azimio and Tina, then she pictured Karofsky, Sam and Rachel. How did that work out?

"Who did Karofsky sleep with?"

"I just told you, all of them."

Kurt pressed a hand to his mouth, "Oh my god! They had an orgy?"

"Last time I checked that's what group sex means."

Quinn and Kurt's eyes met; they didn't even need to say it out loud, this explained nothing.

She spoke up then, "Did they do anything strange?"

Puck scoffed at her, "You mean other than fuck like they were shooting a porno?"

"I mean that doesn't explain the way they act. Okay, maybe Santana and Brittany would abandon their friends for something like that, but what about Rachel and Sam and Tina? Don't you think all that is just a tiny bit out of character for them?"

"Actually Tina was the only one I wasn't surprised by when the biting started, don't goth people go for stuff like that?"

"Biting?" Kurt almost squealed.

"Dude, not so loud! Yeah, biting. Every time Dave kissed one of them they were practically gnawing on him."

Quinn and Kurt exchanged another look.

"Puck, I think you need to start at the beginning."

OoOoO

Azimio had picked him up the night before. As soon as they were pulling out of the driveway he was glaring at him.

"We gotta stop for some food on the way; I didn't get to finish dinner."

'Because of you' had been left unsaid but the implication was clear. At the drive-thru he'd ordered three burgers and two large fries. Puck had thought for a moment that the larger boy was ordering for him as well until Azimio had informed him that he might want to get something, too.

"We're not too careful with the food at the house. You probably don't want to eat there."

Puck had dutifully ordered a burger and they finished the rest of their drive in silence as they ate their meal.

When thy pulled in Azimio had circled his car around to the back explaining to Puck, "Dave lives downstairs so we usually go in this way."

'This way' was a pair of French doors that opened off the patio, just to the left was the largest hot tub Puck had ever seen. The other boy saw him looking and informed him they wouldn't be using it tonight.

"None of us want to get that close to you."

The doors opened revealing a living room area with a kitchenette behind it. It wasn't huge but it comfortably held a sofa, flat screen T.V. and a pool table. He was directed to a stool at the counter between the kitchen and living room; as soon as he sat down Brittany was offering to mix him a screwdriver. She'd started to take a seat beside him but Santana had snapped at her from the sink.

"Britt, just give him the drink and leave him alone."

"But…"

"Come help me finish the dishes."

Brittany gave him a pouty face but did as she was told. He was unsure about the drink. What if they'd put in some date rape drug or something? He left it sitting by his elbow as he turned to watch Azimio and Sam moving the pool table to the side then pushing the sofa back as well. Karofsky and Tina emerged from the hallway pulling a mattress with them; they flopped it on the floor then disappeared down the hall again, neither of them acknowledging his presence.

Sam walked over to him and murmured in his ear, "You can drink that, you know, we wouldn't try to poison you."

He heard Santana from behind him, "I would."

Sam laughed, "Okay, Santana would, but not tonight. I promise."

Puck picked up the glass and took a drink looking at Sam as if to say, 'See? I trust you.' Instantly he felt like an idiot. What the hell did he have to prove to Sam?

Karofsky and Tina came back dragging a second mattress toward the first and Rachel followed behind them. Azimio addressed her playfully as she entered the room.

"You finished twisting up that smoke yet, girl? Thought I was gonna have to go back there and show you how to roll again."

She stuck out her tongue as she tossed a joint to him then sat several more on the counter by Puck as she leaned in next to him.

"Hey baby, buy a pretty girl a drink?"

She, Santana and Brittany had snickered at this as Britt started pouring the vodka and orange juice over ice for her.

OoOoO

Even through his hang over haze Puck realized something.

"It was weird."

"Yeah, Rachel Berry rolling joints? I'd say weird is the right word for that."

Quinn and Kurt were both shaking their heads in astonishment.

"No, the conversation, like they didn't like me there but they were trying to act normal."

Puck knew he wasn't expressing it right, he just couldn't find the words to express how uncomfortable everyone had seemed. How restrained. Like two teenagers getting caught making out, just waiting on mom to leave so they could get back to what they really wanted to be doing.

"I don't think I really saw normal until the game."

OoOoO

Puck was sitting on the couch; they were all a couple of feet away on the mattresses, passing a joint and drinking more screwdrivers. Britt had mixed up two large pitchers of them and brought a bowl of ice with her into the living room.

"Let's play 'I never,'" Rachel had suggested.

A chorus of groans greeted this idea.

"What? It's the only game Puck can play with us."

Dave shook his head but he'd smiled fondly at the petite brunette, "You know we're running out of 'nevers' pretty fast around here."

Tina poked at him, "Some of us are running out faster than others."

"Hey, it's not my fault you pervs take advantage of my lack of boundaries."

When they'd finished laughing Dave spoke again, "I'll get us started; I've never given Z a rim job."

The girls booed at him and Azimio shrugged, "What can I say, he's selfish in bed."

Rachel was next, "I've never given Santana a rim job."

Then Azimio, "I've never given Santana a rim job either."

Santana followed, "I've never done that to Rachel," she winked at the smaller girl, "but we can change that tonight if you want to Rach."

She nudged Britt who looked around then finally stated, "I've given everyone here a rim job."

They laughed as she leaned across to kiss Dave. Puck was a little disturbed to see Dave's lip bleeding when they finished but then she was kissing Santana and everyone else was yelling at him.

"Your turn Puckerman."

"Puckzilla!"

"Puck, Puck, Puck!"

He flushed red, "I've never given anyone here a rim-job."

Santana cackled at him, "Drink up, pussy!"

He swallowed the contents of his glass and Brittany quickly gave him a refill.

Sam went next, "I've never done that to Tina."

She put an arm around him and squeezed, "I've never done it to Sam either."

Dave gave her a nudge, "You two are fucking tonight, you're practically cheating when we play this game."

She just smiled at him, "We're back to you big guy."

Dave passed the joint he'd been holding to Rachel and leaned closer to Tina. Puck thought they'd kiss but she bit his bottom lip and sucked on it for a moment before turning to kiss Sam. Dave turned to Rachel who handed the smoke off to Azimio before licking across his mouth a few times.

"Hurry up, the sooner you start the sooner we're finished."

"Okay, I've never had Santana's fingers in my ass."

"Yeah, just my dildo."

They choked up at that then Rachel spoke up, "I've never had Sam's fingers in my ass or Santana's dildo."

More giggling then Azimio looked over at Brittany, "I've never had the pleasure with you sweet cheeks."

Britt smiled at him, "You said you had a hemorrhoid that night and you didn't want me to."

Everyone cracked up again then Santana nudged Az, "You've never finger fucked my back door."

They all looked surprised by that and Santana gave a mock horrified expression, "Have you seen those things? They're like gnarly tree limbs."

Azimio scowled at her,"Hey, it's from football! My fingers get jammed a lot."

OoOoO

"We kept playing 'I never' and drinking and smoking. Every time someone kissed Karofsky they were biting at him. Then they started having sex."

"And?" Quinn arched an eyebrow at him.

"And nothing. I was fucking out of it by then; my mother could have been sucking Karofsky's dick and I wouldn't have noticed. I kind of remember thinking something was…" Puck shook his head, "never mind, I was so trashed out I'm not sure now."

"What? What was it?"

"No matter who Karofsky was fucking the others would touch him if they were close enough. Not like getting in on the sex just… I don't know guys, it's hard to explain."

"They were just making a connection. " Kurt offered.

"Yeah, I guess."

Kurt looked at Quinn with a triumphant expression and she scowled at him.

"Listen, I gotta get in the shower, you guys gonna give me a ride to school?"

"Sure. Hurry up though; second period's already started by now."

Puck walked down the hallway trying not to think about what he hadn't told Kurt and Quinn but he couldn't forget the creepy feeling it gave him. Hell, he'd been so wasted, maybe it hadn't been weird at all, people that fucked up didn't know what the hell was going on around them. Puck shook it off as he stepped into the shower. After last night it felt good to get clean.


	5. Chapter 5

**I don't own anything Glee related.**

Quinn and Kurt waited until they heard the water running before they started talking about it.

"What in the world Kurt? I mean, the biting?" she asked him.

"I guess it could be normal, well not normal, it would be kinky but not… you know."

Neither of them were willing to say it. This was already so far beyond their experience but they were not crazy-people. When the explanations got too far out there… well, they weren't crazy.

"What about the food? I don't mean Azimio, he's a football player and a big guy, but why would he warn Puck not to eat at Karofsky's house? Didn't Karofsky tell Santana he was making her dinner that time when he asked her over?"

"He's never said that to anyone else though," Kurt pointed out.

"That doesn't mean he didn't."

"I don't know," he shook his head, "we've really got nothing but speculation here Quinn. I say as long as they're not bothering anyone we leave them alone."

"I think there's something Puck's not telling us."

"Maybe so, maybe I don't care at this point."

"Okay, I'm not going to do anything as long as they don't do anything but he'd better not end up eating lunch with them or it will be on again."

They heard the shower stop and they sat in silence until Puck walked back into the kitchen.

"You guys ready to go?"

OoOoO

Even though he'd told Quinn he'd leave it alone Kurt couldn't stop thinking about Karofsky and his _minions?/groupies?/_ _lovers?_ on the ride to school. He thought back to when Rachel had first started sitting with him. Correction, them. At first they had sat with the jocks; they had thought because she sat by Karofsky they were dating, but Azimio had gone with them when they'd moved to a new table. He groaned out loud and slapped himself on the forehead. How could they not have thought of asking about it before?

"Puck, can you wait after football practice and ask one of the guys something, it has to be someone who sits with the rest of the jocks."

Puck pulled down his sunglass a little and gave Kurt a suspicious look over the top of the frames.

"What did you want me to ask?" he said in his coldest voice.

"Can you try to find out why Karofsky, Rachel and Azimio moved to a new lunch table?"

"No Kurt, I can't. I feel like fucking shit right now, I don't even know how I'm going to make it through practice and I had to watch an orgy last night that I didn't even get to participate in," _really __Puckerone__?_ he ignored the voice in the back of his head and went on, "I'm not joking here, if you mention any of them to me again we can't be friends anymore. Leave it be, okay? That was supposed to be the whole reason I even went over there last night, now you guys know what happened so just drop it."

"Fine!" Kurt knew he had a point but it didn't mean he had to enjoy being spoken to like that.

"Look, I'm gonna go catch a nap in the nurse's office at lunch, you guys can tell the rest of them I'm okay and fill them in on what happened. I don't feel like answering a million questions again today."

"Probably for the best, when we tell them about the biting you don't want to have to explain why you didn't run out of that house screaming," Quinn snarked at him.

Puck started to laugh at her then stopped abruptly and rubbed his temples.

"I hate to take your innocence twice sweetheart but you need to google 'blood play' when you get home."

Puck slumped against the window in the backseat; if it didn't hurt so badly he'd be laughing again at Kurt's inept explanation to Quinn. Oh well, that's what search engines were made for. He couldn't wait until practice was over and he could get back home this afternoon. He was going to write a note for his mom, hit that fucking fat roach he left this morning and go straight to bed.

OoOoO

_He should be looking at Santana and Tina sixty-nining each other but he's seen it before, not __them__ but he has plenty of girl on girl porn back at his own house. Azimio is pounding into Rachel and that was beyond fucking hot too, 'cause she was writhing and moaning like a porn star her damn self but they both keep reaching their hands out to touch Karofsky, grabbing his ankle, stroking his calf and so that's where his eyes keep going back to. He's standing with his legs spread, Sam on his knees in front, Brittany in the same position behind him. Puck keeps taking in the three of them, Karofsky with one hand fisted in Sam's hair, eyes closed and teeth bared while the two smaller blondes work on him enthusiastically._

_He unfastens his jeans and pulls his cock out, he knows he's probably had too much to drink and he won't be able to come but he's at least got to touch himself, he has to have some stimulation right now. He knows he'll jerk off to what he's seen here for the next few months if not longer. As he runs his thumb over the head of his cock, gathering the pre-come leaking from his slit and rubbing it up and down his shaft Puck is watching the strained expression on Karofsky's face. He starts to breathe harder and then… Then Karofsky opens his eyes. And __everything__ stops. He lowers himself to his knees to sit between Brittany and Sam; Puck realizes stupidly that he still has his hand on his dick and the others are sitting up and facing him, too._

"_Well Puck, since you've got our attention maybe you should give us a little show."_

_Karofsky smiles at him. It wasn't comforting. Puck feels himself start to go soft under the scrutiny of seven pairs of eyes but it's __his__ eyes that he can't tear his gaze away from._

"_Better get back to work __Puckerone__, do you know how insulted I'll be if you can't get off after you've been eye-fucking me for the last five minutes?"_

_Puck hears a few snickers, mostly from Santana. He starts moving his hand again, getting his hard-on back but there is just no way…_

"_I can't."_

"_You'd better."_

_Karofsky's voice is lower, more intimidating. This is even worse than the angry bully voice, there's no empty threat here. For the first time since Puck arrived here tonight he's afraid, not of switching tables tomorrow but of never seeing tomorrow. He works his cock until it's raw and sore; now they're not just looking at him but actually sniffing the air. Scenting him, he thinks and he starts to panic._

"_Please Dave I can't, I'm too drunk."_

"_Do __it__."_

_Puck starts weeping now because none of them look angry, just very keen, very __interested__. Karofsky's even smiling at him again but he feels the menace rolling toward him and he knows he's never before in his life been in this much danger. He closes his eyes and tries to think of every_

_warm wet/_

_soft breasts/_

_hard pink red brown nipples/_

_sweet mouth/_

_tongue flicking out/_

_blow job/_

_Dave_

_He comes with a painful cry and _wakes up from the nightmare almost screaming, sick to his stomach and tears standing in his eyes. Puck feels something damp in his bed. Godammit! He was so scared of a bad dream that he'd pissed himself like a kid. He had to clean this up before his mom saw it. But when he threw back his sheet Puck did start to cry. He hadn't peed in his bed; he'd had a wet dream.


	6. Chapter 6

**I don't own any part of Glee or its characters. **

Everybody was happy now. Quinn had Finn firmly wrapped around her finger again, it was so obvious Rachel didn't want him and he wasn't pathetic enough to keep pining after her. Artie kept giving him fist bumps and high fives, he thought they were some kind of bad asses who'd stopped Azimio and Karofsky in their tracks. Rachel still got plenty of solos but she didn't fight for every single one anymore so everyone acknowledged Kurt and Mercedes as the biggest divas in Glee Club now. The weird tangent Mike had gone off on seemed to help him get over Tina. After he'd gotten the clap Puck had a strong talk with him about using protection but he was still having the time of his life whoring it up.

Yep, everyone was fucking thrilled with life except for Noah Puckerman. He couldn't help but resent the rest of the Gleeks a little bit. He knew it hadn't been that way but he felt like he'd been sent out to do the dirty work for them and then they had scooped up all the rewards. Because nothing was going right for him, nothing at all.

A week after he'd spent the night with the others he and Lauren had broken up. He didn't care very much; he'd been relieved that she'd promised not to tell why as long as he kept giving her twenty dollars a week for batteries but that was about it. His grades were down, okay they were always down, but two days ago Brett had been assigned to be his lab partner in Biology to help him keep up. He had been sucking it up on the field too; they'd played their last game but he knew if Beiste had anyone else to play CB he'd have been benched for it. And things just plain sucked at home.

His mom had been on his case asking why he didn't go out anymore, she was glad he was doing his own laundry but she wanted to know why he had to do his wash so often. Puck had tried to kill two birds with one stone by investing in some extra sheets and frequenting the laundry mat but even when he brought a book or his homework with him he couldn't pay attention to it. He could slip into the day dreams anywhere but it was worse at the laundry mat. The rhythmic whirr of the dryers,

the washing machines making their

soapy shulb, shulb, shulb sounds/

for fresh laundry, fresh _sheets/_

_and it was hot there/_

_breathing the warm air/_

_steamy, steamy, and hot/_

_and Azimio and Sam are double teaming Santana and that's pretty hot but he can't see it that well because Azimio is the one in front getting head but he has his back toward Puck so he looks over to where Brittany and Tina are lying side by side, so beautiful all twined together kissing and finger fucking and moaning. He's stroking his cock while he looks at them and the visual is great but it's the words that are getting him off and Rachel is the one talking so he starts looking over to where she is on her hands and knees she's throwing her head back, her eyes all scrunched up but she's keeping up a steady stream of words that are so sexy coming out of her mouth because its Rachel saying these things._

"_Dave I love you, God I love it. I love your penis, it feels so good."_

_Puck feels his own dick getting harder, getting sore because he's had too much to drink and can't quite get there. He looks right into Karofsky/Dave's eyes and he smiles at him._

"_You like that, __Puckerone__?"_

_Puck knows he wants him to be right where Rachel is so he starts moving his hand faster, harder and Dave starts moving the same way like they're the ones doing a double team faster, fucking her harder so she can't even talk just make noises like an animal and he can't stop looking in his eyes, he wants him, he's aching for him so fucking bad and then he's not sure who Dave's even talking to when he speaks._

"_Come for me. Do it."_

_But he's going to, drunk or not he's _"Hey! Can't you read the sign!"

The laundry attendant was glaring at him and he tracked her finger to the red and white 'No Loitering' sign she was pointing at.

"Get your clothes and go home kid."

Puck closed his biology text book and moved toward the dryers, slightly embarrassed but mostly annoyed. Thankfully he only ever washed his sheets here so he didn't have to stand around folding laundry while she gave him the hairy eyeball; he just snatched them out of the dryer and promised himself that the next time he came here he'd put glue in some of her washing machines.

Outside he threw his laundry in the backseat but he didn't start the car right away, just sat there breathing in the smell of detergent and fabric softener that was almost overpowering in the warm car. Puck took out his phone, he knew he shouldn't, he already knew what would happen but he couldn't help himself and he sent the text anyway.

**Can we talk?**

**No**

Exactly what he'd expected.

OoOoO

Santana confronted him the next morning before class started, he'd been slightly surprised to see her walking down the hall without one of the others but when she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the girls' restroom he'd known what was going on.

"Leave him alone!"

"Why won't he talk to me?"

"Shut the fuck up! I'm not here to answer questions for you. No more late night texts, no more sad sack, whining voice mails, it stops now, do you understand?"

"You gonna kick my ass if I don't?"

She'd slapped him, hard.

"I'll do that anyway if I want to, Punk. But if you keep bothering Dave I'll show everyone in the Glee Club all the pitiful little messages you've sent to him. How do think you they'll feel about that?"

"He saved them?"

She kneed him in the balls then spat on him when he slid down to the floor. She'd turned around and stalked out leaving two shocked and frightened freshmen to try and help him up. Puck just waved them away, he knew he deserved it. He was acting worse than Finn or Mike had ever thought about. But she was right; he had to stop with this bull shit. Everyone else was happy; the others, the Glee Club and he was being an idiot.

Okay, he could stop the calls.

He could stop the text messages.

He couldn't stop the looking, the thinking or the dreaming.

That night it was_ Brittany crawling toward him with a feral smile and Puck knew he was in danger then he heard Dave's voice; urgent, angry telling her to stay where she was, not to get off the mattresses._

He woke up then but as soon as he fell back to sleep _he was laying there with come all over his stomach and Dave was yelling at Azimio and Rachel to pick him up and put him in the shower. Dave looked like he wanted to attack him and was barely restraining himself._

_"Clean him off, I can't stand to smell that shit," he'd told them._

But always, every single time when that moment came they were looking in each other's eyes. And that was probably the most funny/sad/ironic thing about it because he could stare at Dave all day long, in the cafeteria, in the choir room, after football practice, Puck could look but he couldn't get his fill because Dave never, ever, not even once looked back at him.


	7. Chapter 7

**I do not own anything. I don't even have a pet, it's an animal companion.**

It was going to rain tonight and they absolutely needed some stress relief so they were on their way to meet the boys after football practice. It was their last one and they were all glad; they didn't like Dave and Azi and Sam being on thier own in the locker room with the others. They caused too many problems. Like now. Rachel stared out the window and listened to Santana and Tina talking about their biggest problem.

"Do you think he'll stop?"

"I don't think so, I told him I'd show the messages to them and he said, 'He kept my messages?'" Santana bobbed her head and quoted Puck in her best derpy voice.

Tina ignored the other girl's attempt at humor, "What do you think is wrong with him?"

"I don't know maybe Dave was wrong about it wearing off."

Rachel turned around to glare at Santana, "Maybe we should test your theory, why don't we drop you off at your house? You can avoid us for the next couple of weeks and see if you're still one of us or if you go back to them."

Santana just glared back, she didn't have to say anything, none of them would willingly let something like that happen.

Brittany knew they all thought this was her fault for getting too excited when Puck was with them so she hadn't said anything yet, but she didn't like the bad feelings they were giving her so she stopped playing with the turn signal long enough to give her opinion.

"I don't think there's anything to wear off."

Santana and Tina rolled their eyes behind her but Rachel was more patient, "Britt there has to be a reason Puck's acting this way."

"I know, I think he's in love with Dave."

At that moment Rachel felt like she was in love with Brittany. She could be so simple but sometimes the simplest explanation was the best. Britt smiled at what she sensed coming from Rachel and repeated what they'd all heard from Dave so many times.

"There are some things that are more important than love."

Rachel turned to look at San and Tina; they were smiling, too. They were all in sync again.

OoOoO

Dave was in the kitchen taking one of his crusts out of the oven while Sam sliced onions for him. He knew Santana would complain that there wasn't any meat and Rachel would complain that it wasn't vegan but they were both just going to have to compromise tonight. He was in the mood for quiche. And fuck anyone who asked why they couldn't have marinara, as much as he let them all chew on him he could have what he wanted to eat once in a while. Sam could feel Dave's dark broodiness behind him but before he could say anything Azimio was coming from the hallway.

"Shower's yours Sammy-boy, let me finish that."

Sam was relieved. If Rach wasn't here at least Z was. One of them could always be counted on to get Dave back to happy again. With a grateful smile he handed the larger boy the knife and took off for the bathroom. Azimio gave Dave a little nudge with his foot as he finished up the onions and put them in the pie shells.

"Don't stress big man, we're gonna eat, dance for a while and by the time you get in that hot tub all your worries will be gone."

"It's just a distraction Az, the worry is still there even if I can forget about it for tonight."

"Then let it go already. We don't like it when you're stressed, it stresses us too."

Dave knew he was right, the girls would be here soon and he didn't want his sorry mood to ruin everyone else's. That was one thing that had gone wrong the night Puck came over. He'd been tensed up by having someone outside the group in his house so they'd been tense and over excited too. Then Puck the fucking 'sex shark' had to whip it out and put that smell in the air. Damn him. Any one of the others would have just sat there; hell would probably have hidden their eyes and peeked out through their fingers, if at all, but not Puckerman and then right in the middle of them fucking/love-making/bonding they'd smelled his arousal, his come and it smelled like other in their territory. Thank Whoever he'd come to his senses before it could get out of hand but the way dude had been acting since then was just weird.

Az clasped his shoulder and Dave realized he'd been staring at the Swiss cheese in his hand for almost a full minute.

"Hey let me finish up, why don't you grab a beer and relax until they get here."

Dave pulled him into a hug. It was good, the contact, touching him and feeling the love Az had for him.

"Do me a favor tonight Z?"

"Anything man."

"Convince Britt that Miller Lite in a can is not the most perfect beer on the planet."

"Not me bro, her second favorite is Keystone, you wanna be stuck drinking that?"

OoOoO

They were eating the last of the quiche and watching their favorite movie while they waited for the rain to start coming down. Rachel was curled up next to Dave on the couch almost blissed out from the contact with him while he was so relaxed and content. She decided to bring up what Britt had said earlier, if he got tense there were always the rain and the hot tub to help him relax later.

"We think we know what's wrong with Puck; Britt thinks he's in love with you."

No one even looked at them but Dave knew they were waiting to hear what he had to say, listening so they'd know how to react to the situation.

"Rach there are some things..."

"that are more important than love," she finished for him, "I know that, believe me I do. But why not just bring him in? He'd be happy with it, you know that. He'd be a good fit with us. And the hot tub can still seat another person," she teased him.

"Because of the others," he said seriously, "It'd cause more problems with them, problems for you guys. Loyalty and trust babe, and I'm loyal to the people I have now."

"Maybe we could talk to them?"

"We tried that, look at how wrong that's gone for us."

Azimio spoke up now, he knew if he and Rachel both disagreed with him Dave might change his mind.

"I think it's a good idea; have all of them over and tell them everything, about you, about us, about Puck. What are they gonna do about it? They got special rooms with special walls for people that start talking too crazy and won't quit it. When it's all out there they won't be able to say no to Puckerman."

Dave thought about it for a long while then finally nodded at Rachel, "Okay, tomorrow night, Az can give Lauren some more cash to distract Mr. Schue and we'll talk to them in Glee about coming over."

Everyone liked it; Dave could feel the good vibes coming from them.

Rachel started wiggling excitedly, "Okay, here it comes!"

It was their favorite part of the movie, they'd gone through a 'Zombieland' kick for a little bit but they never failed to come back to this.

Everyone got ready and then they all screamed it out along with George Clooney, "Psychos do not explode when sunlight hits them, I don't give a fuck how crazy they are!"

That always cracked them up.

A few minutes later the rain started falling and they got up and headed outside. On their way out Rachel put a hand on Dave's arm and smiled at him.

"You'll see, tomorrow this will all work out okay."

But it didn't happen that way.


	8. Chapter 8

Sam woke up feeling fine as wine. As he took his shower he mentally listed the reasons it was going to be a great day.

Number one had to be the plan for getting Puck to join the pack (a word Sam only used in his head 'cause Dave was sensitive about certain terminology.) Sam was thrilled at that prospect, he loved the girls from the Glee Club and Dave and Z, too but it'd be great to have one of the original Glee guys with him.

Number two was no more football practice, yesterday had been their last one, and everyone thought that was bullshit since only one senior had been named to the all-conference squad but that was Coach Beiste for you, they still had to have practice to keep Robards in shape.

Number three was his dentist appointment at 9:45. He'd borrowed Dave's truck last night and since his mom was so pleased that she didn't have to take time off work it had been easy to convince her that there was no point in him driving to school for first period just to leave again so he'd been able to sleep in an hour and a half this morning. He'd also told the guys that no matter what time he was finished he didn't plan on showing up until noon, that'd give him time to swing by his source's house and try to seal the deal on the ElfQuest graphic novel he had his eye on. He'd have to convince Dave to give him the weed to trade for it but Sam didn't think that would be a problem if he did the convincing in the hot tub.

At ten 'till twelve Sam drove into the student parking lot in high spirits; Leeta, Cutter, and Skywise were his, or they would be as soon as he got the pot from Dave anyway and he'd only needed his teeth cleaned at the dentist's. Dave had warned him that if he had cavities he'd have to ask for extra Novocain or deal with the pain. The first would make his dentist think he used drugs, no big deal but better to avoid, the second would be… painful. Their bodies just metabolized things faster now; nothing compared to Dave's but it was still kind of cool, like having mutant powers. That was another thing to avoid saying in front of Dave, he'd once gotten slugged in the jaw for calling him Logan. Who knew Dave was an X-men fan?

As Sam got out of the truck he was lost in thought mentally deciding which X-men they'd all be _Rachel was definitely Professor X_ when he felt someone behind him, he'd barely turned his head when the first shot caught him in the temple, Sam's vision went grey as he sank to his knees. Then the kicking started.

OoOoO

They were on their way to the cafeteria when Strando came racing toward them shouting, sort of, Dave's name. They moved in protectively, Santana actually stepped forward, but there was no aggression coming from the chubby boy, in fact he looked panicked.

"Just got it," he was too winded to say more so he handed Dave his phone. The video showed Sam on his hands and knees with legs all around kicking at him; before it went dark a foot comes down on the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.

"What the fuck!" Dave's voice was a roar and the other students in the hallway looked scared and started clearing away from them. Rachel and Az put restraining hands on his arms, they were afraid he could hurt himself or Strando if he didn't stay in control but when Tina spoke they let go and took off running with the rest of them.

"Those were your rims in the background; he's gotta be in the parking lot."

OoOoO

_Sam's floating and it feels so cool he wonders why Dave didn't tell him about __all__ the super powers they've got. He hears his people/pack all around him and he feels their love so strongly he wants to float toward them and let them in on this awesome new thing they can do. He can hear their voices getting louder and he vaguely wishes he could fly because floating takes way too long but now he's __hurting__ and god! Maybe he shouldn't try flying if this is how bad it feels but they're calling his name so he _opens his eyes and there's Dave asking him, telling him,

"Who did it Sam? Tell me who."

"Three hockey players, one was Scotty."

It hurts _trying to_ _fly so_ _Sam floats away again. He'll tell them about the floating later. Weird that Dave was above him. Maybe he's the only one who can fly good…_

Dave keeps yelling at Sam until he opens his eyes again.

"Damn it Dave it hurts."

"I know Sam but you've gotta stay conscious, okay?"

OoOoO

Az stood behind Dave while they watched the EMTs load Sam up and take him away. He caught the girls' eyes and took the little prescription bottle out of his pocked, he expected Santana to object but she nodded at him as well. They could all feel Dave wanting to go now, go hurt those people who hurt Sam and they were feeling it too but they knew what would happen if Dave confronted them right now.

"I'm going to kill all of them; maybe you guys shouldn't help me."

The girls exchanged glances knowing this was what Azimio was going to try and prevent, thankfully Tina had come up with this plan a few weeks ago so they all knew what to do if Dave ever had a 'freak-out.'

"No way man, we're with you on this."

Dave nodded at him and they followed him into the building. Santana managed to get in front as they walked down the hallway; Dave was looking for Scotty Cooper, she had to find an empty classroom before they found him. Halfway down she gave a high sign toward the right; they were all watching for it so Dave was the only one surprised when they got to the open door, suddenly he felt his best friend's weight hitting him from behind and he was being shoved through the doorway. Rachel kicked it shut behind them as Azimio propelled Dave forward and kicked him in the back of the knee. That leg went out from under him then the girls piled on top of both of them bringing him all the way down. Dave managed to roll on his back, growling and cursing but Azimio stayed astride him while Rachel and Britt dove on one of his arms and Santana and Tina grabbed the other one. Dave tried to struggle loose but he had no desire to actually hurt them, which was exactly what Tina had counted on when she made the plan.

Dave was yelling at them to get the fuck off him when Az, with the pills already in his hand, cupped it over his mouth. Dave's eyes went wide and he tried to bite at Azimio but he held his hand in place. He hated doing this, it was how he got his dog to take worming pills but if this was what it took to protect Dave then so be it. As soon as he said 'they're in' Santana reached out and pinched Dave's nostrils shut while Az started stroking his throat with his free hand. He could hardly stand to see the anger and betrayal in Dave's eyes and Brittany had started to cry.

"Swallow D, come on, they're gonna dissolve anyway, you might as well."

When he felt his friend's throat working he told Santana to let go but they stayed in position on the floor as they waited to make sure it had been effective.

Az removed his hand and looked down at Dave sadly, "Sorry man, sorry. You'll feel better about this later."

They got him out of the building all of them relieved that no teacher had come along, they had a story planned about an anxiety attack but if Dave opened his mouth they were sunk. They took Rachel's car; Britt sitting on Santana's lap in the passenger's seat, Rachel and Tina squeezed into the back with Dave. He was the only one who spoke on the ride home.

"I hate you all."

OoOoO

Santana called the hospital while the rest of them worked on getting Dave cleaned up. He's been bathed, dressed and given three more Ativan thanks to Rachel's begging. _Please don't make us force you again, please_. He was sitting on the side of the bed between Rachel and Azimio when Santana came in.

"I talked to his mom, he's awake but he has a broken nose, bruised ribs and a concussion. She's pretty sure they'll release him soon, she's gonna call so we can meet them at their house," Santana had to cover her mouth so they didn't see her smile, "apparently Sam asked if his friend Logan could be there when he gets home."


	9. Chapter 9

"Hon, why don't you get some rest? You must be dog tired after today."

_Don't worry Ms. Evans; dogs like me can stay up for a looong time. _

"That's alright Ms. Evans; I don't think I could sleep anyway."

"If you change your mind I put an extra blanket on the couch for you."

Her soft southern accent was so sweet Dave almost wanted to ask her for a hug, or some grits maybe. God, no wonder Sam was such a momma's boy. The short woman looked almost comical as she stepped over Azimio's hulking form and went to Sam's bedside.

"Baby, wake up. Sam? Wake up for just a minute."

Sam grunted at her and rubbed sleep from his eyes as she helped him set up in bed.

"Tell me what your name is."

"Sam Evans."

"Where are you hon?"

"I'm at home, in my bedroom."

"You remember what happened?"

"I got beat up and I got a concussion and you won't let me sleep 'cause of it."

Ms. Evans smoothed back his hair and kissed his forehead.

"That's right sweetheart, but you can lay back down now."

Sam's eyes went to where Dave sat in his desk chair.

"I think I'm gonna stay up for a little while Mom."

"Sure, you want something to drink? Something to eat?"

"Nah, I'm fine."

"Alright then, I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Sam waited for her to leave before he asked, "What are you going to do?"

"Santana's going to call around later, find out who's having a party tonight. I bet Cooper thinks he's some hot shit right now since he didn't get his ass kicked yesterday, if he's there we'll get the names of the other two from him. I think it was probably Tyce Hatcher and Canyon Reid but I'm gonna be sure before we start dishing out the pain."

"Is that your other fist?"

"Ha ha, your mom know what a smart-ass you are?"

"She taught me."

Dave was finished with the half-ass joking, "I'm gonna call Puckerman in a while too."

"You don't know for sure…"

"He's gonna find out for sure."

Sam couldn't meet Dave's eyes, "You're kind of using him aren't you?"

Dave just shrugged, trust Sam to ask a question like that, he'd chalk it up to pain meds and let it go.

"I'll let him handle it, we get something and they get something."

"Are you still gonna let him…"

Dave shrugged again, "Depends on how he handles it."

OoOoO

Although Dave didn't know it, he could have made his phone call right away. Puck hadn't felt much like sleeping either. He couldn't stop thinking about Sam, about what Scott Cooper and his cronies had done to him, what they'd said about him. As soon as the hockey players had figured out that Sam's friends had left school they'd started bragging to everyone who'd listen that they were the ones behind the video that'd been sent out. At least Cooper and Hatch did, Canyon hadn't looked too proud of himself and mostly just back slapped the other two.

"We saw the little faggot pulling up in the big faggot's ride; I just took off my sock right then and stuck one of Hatch's steel pucks in it. When the fag walked by I caught him upside the head with it and, bam, he fucking dropped. Tried to grab Canyon's dumb ass from down there, but we were already putting it to him. Fucker stayed on his hands and knees forever though."

"Probably wanted an ass fucking, must be used to it, taking Karofsky's dick like that every night. When my man here finally gave him the boot to the back of the head he went down."

They had high-fived and laughed like maniacs. Puck had wanted to get in their faces but he felt just as guilty about it as Canyon Reid looked. There'd been rumors about the new clique at school but the seven of them hanging out looked like every guy's dream, four girls and three dudes? Yeah, everyone had speculated on who was tapping who, did they share, what? No one ever thought about… other possibilities. Puck wasn't stupid; there was only one way they could have known. Whatever they'd heard had to have come from the Glee Club.

Puck wasn't surprised when his phone rang at seven and it was Dave Karofsky even though he couldn't remember having ever gotten a phone call from him before, even when they were kids. _I guess he really did save my messages._

"I didn't say anything man, I swear."

He didn't think there was any point in dancing around it; Puck knew he hadn't called to have a heart to heart about their repressed feelings for one another.

"It was one of you, had to have been. You better find out who and take care of it or I will."

"What am I supposed to do if it was Quinn or Mercedes?"

He couldn't believe he'd said something so inane, especially when he heard Dave's response.

"If that's a problem for you I can respect that," he sounded almost amused, "but it's no problem for me at all."

"What do you expect me to do?"

The phone was silent; Dave had already hung up on him.

"What does he expect me to do?"

He looked up at Miss September but she just kept smiling at him, bitch never had any answers. Fuck it; it was time for an emergency Glee Club meeting.

OoOoO

"Is this about Sam?"

"It's gotta be, what else is an emergency right now?"

"I say if it is then let them handle it."

"How can you be that way? It's Sam."

"Why are we here Puck?"

"You guys have all heard about why they beat him up, right?"

Everyone nodded at him and Quinn spoke up, "The whole school knows, that doesn't explain what it has to do with us."

"They got their information from somewhere and we were the only ones who knew what was really going on with them."

"No way man!"

"After what my boy's been through? I'd never do that!"

"We wouldn't do that, none of us would, right guys?"

Puck watched them all nodding vehemently. Then he noticed Mike. He wasn't nodding; in fact, Mike didn't look so good at that moment. The rest of them noticed Puck staring and turned to look at him too. It was Kurt who spoke first; his tone was curious, and dangerous.

"Mike, what did you do?"

"I didn't tell them. I just… last weekend I was trying to hook up with Nikki Young at Hatch's party. She said the guys in Glee Club were all losers and that the blonde one was the only one she'd think about doing. I was pretty drunk, okay? I was just trying to get laid so I told her she wasn't his type. Umm, I might have said something about Sam liking them bigger, meaner, and in letterman jackets," Mike was shamefaced, staring at the ground but then he looked up at them defensively, "It's not like Karofsky's never done anything bad to us, I didn't mean for Sam to get hurt!"

Kurt's voice was high and shrill, "You know what I've been through at this school and you put Sam in harm's way for a chance at a drunken one night stand?"

"I wasn't thinking, it just came out! Besides, he's not even one of us anymore."

They all started shouting back and forth then and Puck had to bang his fist on the coffee table a few times to be heard.

"Okay, okay, this meeting is over, I want everybody out!"

As they walked to the door, still arguing, Puck put a hand on Mike's shoulder.

"Hang back for a minute dude, I gotta talk to you."

He locked the door in case one of the others noticed or cared enough that Mike hadn't walked out to come back for him then turned to face the other boy. Mike looked at him expectantly. Shit! This was hard to do. _Think about Sam, on the ground. Sam, the hockey puck. Sam, on his knees._

"So Mike, you don't know like, kung-fu or anything do you?"

"No, and that's kind of an Asian stereotype."

"Cool. Sorry about this, bro. Just take it like a man."

Mike had a confused look; Puck took a deep breath and started by hitting him in the right eye first. He always led with his left.

OoOoO

Santana picked them up from Sam's on Saturday morning; on the ride home she told them about the party and what she'd heard about the three hockey players bragging the day before.

"Fuckers, I can't wait 'til tonight."

Santana and Azimio exchanged a glance, Dave was grinding his teeth so loudly they could hear it from the front seat.

"I'm guessing Britt and I go in, do our thing and get them outside? Or do you want it upstairs in a bedroom?"

"Outside's good, Taylor lives in the middle of fucking nowhere, not like the neighbors are gonna call the cops. Did you guys go get my truck last night?"

"Yeah, we all went back, me and Tina dropped it off at your house."

"You pick up Tina and Britt, Z can get Rachel," Dave fished his cell phone out of his pocket then, "hold on, it's Puckerman."

"What is it?"

Azimio filled Santana in on what Puck was supposed to take care of; Dave put his hand over the mouth piece and leaned forward.

"He says it was Mike, drunk and running his mouth at Hatch's last weekend trying to get in some skeeve's pants, when he left Puck's house he was limping and had two black eyes."

They smiled and shared a high-five but their smiles dropped when Dave sat back and they heard his next words.

"We're going to get Cooper and the other two tonight, you wanna come?"

He hung up the phone and addressed Azimio, "You'll have to pick him up too, you guys be at my house by eleven and we'll go from there."

Although neither of them objected, Dave could see by their faces they were both shocked.

"Don't worry about it; he can get in on the beat down and then we'll drop him off at his house, I'm not gonna invite him over again." _Yet_. He didn't say that part out loud.

OoOoO

They were waiting by Santana's car; Az, Dave and Puck were in front with Tina and Rachel standing behind them when they saw Santana and Brittany emerge from the house alone.

"What the fuck is going on?" Dave demanded when the girls approached them.

"They kicked Canyon out. He got drunk and started crying then tried to punch Scotty."

Santana rolled her eyes; she and Brittany definitely had different ideas about what was relevant in some situations, "We didn't know if we should just bring the two that are left or if you wanted to wait."

Dave thought for a second, "Fuck it, one of us can dot his eye next week at school sometime, bring out Cooper and Hatcher."

Back inside Santana wondered if it was drinking or hormones that made guys stupid. Or just the right combination of both. She was next to Scott with Britt and Tyce beside her and the fucking moron had just asked her if she wanted to see what it was like with a real man like that was some kind of come-on line. Maybe it worked with drunk, horny chicks. Too bad for the puck heads she and her friends were sober and vengeful.

"Come outside with me and Brittany; we can get in my car, I don't want everyone to see us go upstairs with you and Hatch."

"You two want to do us both at the same time?" Santana noticed how his voice seemed to have risen an octave, how fucking manly.

"We thought you'd take turns with us."

She made a half-ass attempt at a sultry whisper, but couldn't keep the sarcasm out of her voice. Scott didn't notice, he was punching Tyce in the arm.

"Come on man, let's go, these chicks are freaks!"

Santana mentally nicknamed him Squeaker as they stood up from the couch.

She and Britt helped the two boys stagger outside and headed in the direction of her car; not that it was really necessary, Dave, Azimio and Puck met them half way across the yard.

"You weren't…"

They didn't get to hear the rest of whatever Scotty had to say because just then Azimio's fist met his nose with a satisfying crunch. Hatch actually turned around like he was going to run away, one kick from Dave knocked him flat then he moved over the fallen boy and began methodically kicking his right knee. He started screaming at the top of his lungs, his buddy Cooper was blubbering by this time as Z and Puck passed him back and forth taking turns with punches to the face and gut. He was so far gone he wasn't even trying to defend himself, Santana thought he would probably have fallen on the ground with Hatcher if the other boys had let him. She didn't waste time staring at him; she walked over to where Dave was seemingly intent on ruining Tyce's hockey career, he was still screeching but when she began kicking him in the face he started to make sounds more like his friend's. Must be the blood making it hard to get a good breath, not that it mattered to her, all she cared about was making sure he had a busted nose to match Sam's.

Drunk people started piling out on the porch, some of them piling off the porch when they failed to negotiate the steps correctly. Most of them still had drinks in their hands; none of them were trying to stop them, she hadn't even heard anyone suggest calling the cops yet.

Dave finally had enough, "Come on guys, let's go home."

OoOoO

Monday was a typical day at West McKinley High School. No one had told on them because no one had seen anything and no one had heard anything. So everyone knew everything that had happened.

The Gleeks were pissed off at Puck for beating up Mike. He wanted to tell them off, tell them if they wanted to see a real beat down they should go visit Scott Cooper and Tyce Hatcher but they were ignoring him so he left them alone and settled for giving Canyon Reid a black eye at lunch time instead of going to the cafeteria. When he got to the choir room and sat down they all got up and moved, putting at least one chair's space between him and them. He couldn't believe they'd actually moved closer to the others to get away from him.

One thing was different, though. For the first time since Rachel had changed lunch tables Karofsky was looking at him. Really looking, like staring. Puck met his eyes and didn't look away.

Quinn made a noise of contempt, "You might as well move over there, we all know you're on their side now."

Puck looked at his friends then looked at Dave, he inclined his head the smallest bit and when Puck stood up Brittany moved over so he could take the seat between her and Dave. When he sat down she leaned over to whisper to him.

"It might rain tonight, if it does we'll dance and you can see Dave naked."

Puck wondered if she'd forgotten the night he came over, he whispered back to her while the others glared at him.

"Britt, I've already seen him naked."

She giggled at him, "I don't mean underneath his clothes, silly, I mean underneath his skin."

Puck's eyes went wide and he felt Dave clasp his shoulder and squeeze.

"Don't worry about it man, I'll cook dinner for you first."


End file.
